In recent years, fresh sweet corn is presented to the consumer at the point of sale in transparent wrapping with part of the husk removed to expose one or more rows of kernels. Such presentation is preferable to complete husking, which has a deleterious effect on freshness and shelf-life of the produce.
Prior to the advent of the present invention, the partial husking of the corn to prepare it for sale had been carried out by hand, a difficult and time-consuming task.